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Friday, December 18, 2015

I don't have a huge number of books piled up for review, so I have been able to enjoy some festive re-reads of some of my favourite Christmas stories. I was really surprised to realise that I had never reviewed Cynthia Keller's "An Amish Christmas", as it is one that I read at least once each year!

There are several different covers but this is the hardback copy I own, published in 2010 by Ballantine Books.

Meg Hobart has it all. A loving and incredibly hard-working husband, three healthy children, a fabulous home, an organiser diary crammed full of activities...until one Thanksgiving, her life falls apart when she discovers her husband has been hiding secrets from her which will change their lives dramatically and for ever.

Penniless and homeless, the family are reluctantly driving to Meg's quite ghastly parents to stay and join their family store business when a missed turning in Pennsylvania leads to an accident and their meeting Amish farmer David Lutz, who offers them shelter with his family until their car can be fixed.

Their stay with the Lutzes gives them time to re-assess their marriage, their future, their older children's bad attitudes and what is actually important in life; plans are drawn up, futures decided and lifelong friends have been made to the enrichment of them all.

It's an absolutely gorgeous story and despite the overworked cliche, it really is a heart-warming one, and a perennial favourite of mine.

Thursday, December 03, 2015

This is a lovely book, filled with delights for anyone interested in art or graphic design and who wants to learn more about Art Nouveau. It is a pleasure to look through it and use it as a source book for ideas, but.......

In my opinion, it is more of an introduction rather than an essential reference book. The biographical information about the artists is of the bare bones variety and although this book includes super pictures of works from the US, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland and England, only Mucha is included from Czechoslovakia, which is a real shame.

A great introductory volume, but not as comprehensive as I would have hoped.

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I love to read and I am passionate about promoting literacy. A day which passes without having read anything is a wasted day.......
I continue on my life-long quest to learn Latin :-)
I am married and I have four delightful daughters whose ages range from adult (and married) to 16.